You mean the distributor who has the rights to Kodak products in China decided to stop importing HC-110 into China, so you no longer use it.
Adams is over-rated.
Adams is over-rated.
Can anyone care to chime in and re-assure me before I go out and spend $30 on a bottle?
No, I mean Kodak. The distributer tries to get gray market HC-110 but the source is not reliable, and the price is now far higher than it used to be. The last bottle of HC-110 I had here in China was marked "For sale in the US only".
Kodak simply is abandoning one of the largest markets in the world. Film is very popular here in China but Kodak wants no part of it.
I was going to grab a bottle of HC-110 from freestyle, mostly to develop a handful of found film in old cameras. I've heard it can limit fogging a bit. But my real question is can I assume that the 'new' HC-110 (apparently coming out of Germany) is the same as the old product? There are a couple threads here on APUG doubting it's performance.
Can anyone care to chime in and re-assure me before I go out and spend $30 on a bottle?
Can you give us what evidence you have found for your conclusion? It seems incredible that if film is very popular in China and given the need for Kodak to make profits it should abandon that market. Ilford hasn't abandoned the U.S. because it makes money there.
If you are right then you'd expect a statement to this effect by Kodak with reasons. Could it be that there are reasons why Kodak cannot make a profit in China?
If the market is as you say it is and profits are possible then I am driven to conclude that Kodak is now run by people who are, shall we say, educationally challenged.
This seems unlikely
pentaxuser
Evidence:
Shanghai has 3 stores that sell film full time as their primary product. They are *film* stores, not camera stores. I know the owners very well. They all report robust sales that are increasing year on year. They could be lying but I don't doubt them as their stores are very active and busy.
These stores *cannot* get Kodak HC-110 anymore directly from Kodak. If they can score some gray market, they will sell it. But lately they have not even been able to find any through any channel. I have purchased HC-110 from these stores in the past.
Further, in the past getting Portra film has been *very* sketchy. I havent tried lately so I dont know the current situation. However, if you look at the shelves on the stores, the space devoted to Kodak has shrunk considerably. In my favorite store, FOMA gets far more shelf space than Kodak.
Elsewhere in this photography mall are about 3 dozen if not more stores that sell nothing but used cameras. You name it, you can find it here. Any film camera you want is almost certainly here. Brisk business trading these film cameras. I doubt anyone is getting rich, but damn, it is sure fun to browse there.
Elsewhere, the lab where I get my C41 and E6 film processed says that their sales are going up very well. Turnaround time to get my film back has gone from 3 days when I first started using them up to 7 or 8 days minimum. They apologize but say that the work load simply demands longer times.
This lab also has stopped carrying some Kodak films (they sell film by mail order), due to inability to acquire stock.
Evidence:
Shanghai has 3 stores that sell film full time as their primary product. They are *film* stores, not camera stores. I know the owners very well. They all report robust sales that are increasing year on year. They could be lying but I don't doubt them as their stores are very active and busy.
These stores *cannot* get Kodak HC-110 anymore directly from Kodak. If they can score some gray market, they will sell it. But lately they have not even been able to find any through any channel. I have purchased HC-110 from these stores in the past.
Further, in the past getting Portra film has been *very* sketchy. I havent tried lately so I dont know the current situation. However, if you look at the shelves on the stores, the space devoted to Kodak has shrunk considerably. In my favorite store, FOMA gets far more shelf space than Kodak.
Elsewhere in this photography mall are about 3 dozen if not more stores that sell nothing but used cameras. You name it, you can find it here. Any film camera you want is almost certainly here. Brisk business trading these film cameras. I doubt anyone is getting rich, but damn, it is sure fun to browse there.
Elsewhere, the lab where I get my C41 and E6 film processed says that their sales are going up very well. Turnaround time to get my film back has gone from 3 days when I first started using them up to 7 or 8 days minimum. They apologize but say that the work load simply demands longer times.
This lab also has stopped carrying some Kodak films (they sell film by mail order), due to inability to acquire stock.
No one can get anything directly from Kodak - other than commercial motion picture film.
Kodak Alaris only deals with intervening distributors, and it is entirely within the distributors' prerogative whether or not they import any particular product.
And they also have the ability to block others from importing any product.
Send your concerns about distribution to Kodak Alaris.
Nope, I dont have any concerns. I send my *money* to Ilford now, in the form of purchases of ID-11 and DD-X.
If Kodak doesnt want to be in the China market, I'm not going to argue with them.
Adams is over-rated.
I think you missed Matt's point there...
Rattymouse, have these stores said exactly why they cannot get HC110 and is it only HC110 from the whole Kodak range they cannot get?
It still sounds strange that it is one Kodak product that cannot be obtained. Of course there might be perfectly logical reasons why this is the case for HC110 only but it is difficult to believe that the stores' owners haven't asked Kodak or its Chinese distributors the reasons and even more difficult to believe that if they asked then no reason was forthcoming.
Not doubting that your stores have a problem with HC110 but I remain sceptical that the fault lies with Kodak. It just doesn't make sense
pentaxuser
I am surprised that so few people understand economics. If there is little demand then it is natural for a supplier to discontinue a product. Nothing arcane going on.
I am surprised that so few people understand economics. If there is little demand then it is natural for a supplier to discontinue a product. Nothing arcane going on.
Who said there is little demand?
I think you are saying that if the demand for HC110 is very small compared to other Kodak products then Rattymouse's Chinese retailers or the main Chinese distributor of Kodak products may or indeed have decided not to order it. I can understand this if the cost of ordering HC110 is much greater than other Kodak products but I'd have thought that when inputting a series of Kodak products in an order it made little difference to the distributor what those products were. The cost of ordering and shipping is dependent on size, isn't it? What is in the boxes is largely immaterial. If the order is 10,000 boxes of say D76 or 9,999 boxes of D76 and one box of HC110 I wonder what difference this makes to the cost of ordering and shipping?
However it may make a big and damaging difference to consumers' perceptions of Kodak's desire to serve its consumers.
Let's assume that of the Ilford products sent to the U.S. five of them have little demand. If the U.S. distributor(s) decide it/they should discontinue those products this might seriously damage Ilford's reputation as a company and adversely affect its overall position in U.S. consumers' eyes
Would Ilford simply shrug its shoulders and accept that its U.S. distributors should decide what they order and stock?
Given the attention Ilford gives APUG and the number of "Go Ilford" sentiments expressed when it is seen to cater for consumers' desires, I somehow doubt it.
pentaxuser
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